punk
Reissue CDs Weekly: Action Time VisionSunday, 08 January 2017![]() Sixty-eight tracks into the intriguing Action Time Vision, orthodoxy suddenly gives way to individualism. The two-and-bit discs so far have mostly showcased what passes for notions of punk rock: block-chord guitars, guttersnipe vocals, Ramones-speed... Read more... |
The Damned, Brighton Dome, 2016Friday, 25 November 2016![]() The Damned peak early tonight. They never really top a tribalistic crowd sing-along to the song “Ignite” about two-thirds of the way through the evening. Dressed, as ever, like a cool rockabilly undertaker, in aviators with a black glove clutching... Read more... |
CD: Metallica - Hardwired… To Self-DestructSaturday, 19 November 2016![]() “One thing there's not is the big Metallica ballad – it's all pretty uppity,” said Lars Ulrich of Hardwired… to Self-Destruct, Metallica’s first album for the best part of a decade. If we ignore, for a moment, the Trump-esque grasp of language and... Read more... |
Gimme DangerFriday, 18 November 2016![]() Jim Jarmusch has made a memorial to the Stooges, more than a celebration of their brutal prime. His Zen rhythms, which roll so movingly through the upcoming Paterson, aren’t entirely equipped for the blunt trauma of Ron Asheton’s guitar, or Iggy Pop... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Reykjavík: Iceland Airwaves 2016Sunday, 13 November 2016![]() On the final night of Iceland Airwaves 2016, Polly Jean Harvey and her band are ranged in a line just inside the edge of the stage constructed inside Valshöllin, a sports hall south of Reykjavík’s city centre. The festival’s five days have climaxed... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: The UndertonesSunday, 23 October 2016![]() Although the reformed Undertones, with Paul McLoone replacing original singer Feargal Sharkey, have been a popular live draw since 1999, John Peel’s anointing of “Teenage Kicks” from their debut EP as his favourite recording suggests this is what... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: John LydonSaturday, 22 October 2016![]() It was first released on 23 November 1979, comprising three 45rpm, 12in records housed in 16mm metal film cans, and then reissued the following February as Second Edition, in the more friendly and familiar format of a double album, 33rpm, gatefold... Read more... |
CD: Moby & the Void Pacific Choir - These Systems Are FailingWednesday, 12 October 2016![]() Moby’s last proper album, not including the ambient affair he released via a free download from his LA restaurant earlier this year, was Innocents in 2013. It was a rich yet melancholic affair, the culmination of some years when a sober Moby, no... Read more... |
CD: Dr John Cooper Clarke and Hugh Cornwell - This Time It's PersonalSunday, 09 October 2016![]() You get two singular punk-era artists – a poet and a songwriter – together in a room for a few nights, with a rack of guitars, a rack of songs from their sweet youth, and a few musical friends to help out on keyboards, trumpet, flute and sax. Then... Read more... |
CD: Green Day - Revolution RadioSaturday, 08 October 2016![]() Revolution Radio is a title that can only bring to mind The Clash. To be more specific, it feels like a confabulation of “This Is Radio Clash” and “Revolution Rock”. The spiritual great-grandfather of this album, however, would be The Ramones, punk’... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Musician John FoxxFriday, 02 September 2016![]() “The best and most confident debut since ‘Anarchy in the UK,’” said weekly music paper Sounds of the debut single by Ultravox! “Dangerous Rhythm” had been released in February 1977. “Cosmic reggae," declared Record Mirror. Melody Maker identified a... Read more... |
DVD/Blu-ray: Sid & NancyTuesday, 23 August 2016![]() As this year has been designated the 40th anniversary of punk rock hitting the UK, there’s no surprise that Alex Cox’s Sid & Nancy is up for another home cinema release. It’s been on DVD at least three times previously. This new version, though... Read more... |
